Humans of Cliniko: Niklaas from software development

At Cliniko, we don’t outsource jobs to AI. We’re a team of humans and we wanted you to meet some of the folks behind the scenes who make Cliniko what it is. We recently introduced you to Jasmin from customer support and Patrícia, one of our illustrators. So today we’re peeling the curtain back on our development team!

There are currently 29 folks working on the software side of Cliniko. They’re our developers (or “devs” as we broadly call them) and their job covers a lot of ground—from the backend nuts and bolts, to the way the pages look when you log into Cliniko, they build it and keep it all running smoothly. The devs are the people who add new features to Cliniko, improve the existing ones, iron out any weird glitches that come up, build protections to keep your data secure, and make sure that all the technical infrastructure the software relies on is secure and efficient. Big job!

Meet Niklaas

Niklaas has been a Cliniko developer since the end of 2023. He lives in Wiesbaden, Germany with his partner Alina and Koda, their beautiful Swiss Mountain Dog. When he’s not in front of the computer, he leads an active lifestyle—you’ll find him swimming, on his bike or out for a walk, most likely in the forest near his home.

Before joining Cliniko, Niklaas worked for a Silicon Valley startup that made productivity software. He was doing 50 hours a week, sitting in countless meetings, and feeling the exhaustion starting to mount. He knew he wanted a change. “I always wanted to work either in something connected to software for the environment and sustainability, or in healthcare. I think it’s more purpose-driven,” he says. When he saw the Cliniko job advert, he immediately wanted to apply: “I got a trial account and clicked through the product. It was so simple and was designed in a way that was minimalist, which I liked a lot.” The email inviting Niklaas for an initial interview actually went to his junk mail, but luckily for us he checked it (here’s your reminder to do the same if you haven’t in a while)—and the rest is history!

What happens behind the scenes on the development team

As mentioned above, software development covers a lot of ground, and the work isn’t all about adding new features. Keeping everything secure, for example, requires constant, ongoing attention and takes a lot of work from our team to maintain. In fact, some of the team are even specifically focused on operations, monitoring security, reliability, and the performance of Cliniko. Fixing up any issues (or “bugs”) that arise is another never-ending task and each week two developers are assigned to focus on this as part of a roster system.

The devs are never short of work—there’s a long list of new features we’re keen to develop and existing ones we want to improve. Like anyone on the Cliniko team, developers can choose what they work on. Given we don’t have managers, this is essential to keep everything running smoothly. When we decide to work on something new, there’s always a discussion about who wants to take it on, and folks on the team will volunteer if they’re interested. Our founder, Joel, or other colleagues might make suggestions, but it’s up to each developer to decide their next task for themselves. “We’ll talk about the priorities, and I’ll think about whether what I'm working on at the moment is more important,” Niklaas says. “But I find it quite interesting that even Joel would never tell me what to work on.”

Aside from prioritisation, another tricky part of the job is that tasks can be unexpectedly complicated when you’re in the weeds with them. “It's often the way in software development,” Niklaas admits. “You think something is easy to solve, but then when you’re actually getting your hands dirty, you realise there are lots of things that we have to work on first to make a particular problem solvable.” Niklaas combats this by trying to finish something every day, even if it's something small.

Before code for something new is added to Cliniko, the development team will review each other’s work to make sure it’s sound. “The idea is that you shout out to the entire team and then hopefully someone will pick it up,” Niklaas says. If no-one replies, the developers will reach out to each other directly and ask for feedback. “I think as devs, we tend to be more interested in solving the current problem we're working on than switching context and reviewing someone else's work,” he laughs. Nonetheless, the team makes the peer review process work.

A typical workday for Niklaas

Everyone on the team has the flexibility to work the hours they choose over the course of the day. For Niklaas, this means a varied schedule. “It’s nice that I can structure my day the way I want,” he says. “Typically on Mondays, Wednesdays, and on Fridays, I go to the gym in the morning and then start working at 10am or so. On Tuesdays and on Thursdays, I start early—I could even start at 7am.” He breaks to cook lunch with Alina, who also works from home, then either works for a couple more hours or finishes up for the day.

Niklaas uses the pomodoro technique, which means he sets a timer that goes off every 25 minutes to remind him to take a 5-minute break before returning to the desk—whether that’s a quick walk (even just around his apartment) or heading onto his balcony. He finds that technique works well for him by preventing him from getting overly absorbed or tunnel-visioned. “When I'm interrupted, I often get a new idea of solving the problem I'm working on,” he says.

What does he love about the job?

Remote work has its downsides at times. For one thing, screen fatigue by the end of the day means that Niklaas isn’t always the most timely correspondent when it comes to messaging his friends back! But he says the most challenging part is staying connected to the team. “When you're working remotely and across different time zones, the barrier to approaching someone is higher than when you're sitting in the office,” he observes.

Even so, he says his colleagues are ultimately one of the best parts of the job: “The people I work with are smart, so I read lots of good quality code and get good quality reviews—I learn a lot from that.” There’s a more personal layer to this as well. “Connecting with people during meetups and having the time to hang out is also something I really appreciate,” he says. “It's hard to put in words what I get from it, but it’s a subtle feeling of belonging and knowing I’m part of creating a product that helps other people. For me, software needs to have this humane aspect to it.”

Now more than ever, the human touch really matters—and Niklaas’s thoughts here echo how we want Cliniko to run.